Today, the Supreme Court granted anticipatory bail to Rajkumar Daitapati, the priest of Jagannath Temple, in connection with the money laundering charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The petitioner, a generational priest of the Shri Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, has been named in proceedings under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. This is in relation to an FIR filed by several foreign nationals against Mr. Kuldeep Sharma and his wife, Ms. Aparna Sharma, accusing them of cheating and fraud involving a sum of USD 232,568 in connection with the sale of property.

The petitioner was granted Power of Attorney by the foreign nationals (complainants) to manage the case, act as an intermediary for settlement negotiations, and receive payments on their behalf.

The bench, comprising CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, observed that under the agreement between the parties, the appellant was to receive 92 lakhs on behalf of the foreign nationals. However, it was alleged that the appellant had only deposited 80 lakhs with the RBI, which was claimed to be the proceeds of crime.

The bench agreed to grant anticipatory bail on the condition that the petitioner deposit the remaining 20 lakhs (with interest) with the RBI within three weeks. Once this was done, the complainants would be allowed to remit the sum after fulfilling the necessary formalities. The bench further directed...

"Appellant shall also be released on bail in the event of being arrested in connection with ECIR no... Enforcement Directorate v. Rajkumar Daitapati...for the offences punishable under S.3 read with S.4 of the PMLA 2002."

"The Impugned judgement is set aside and the appeal is allowed in the aforesaid terms. We however clarify that the grant of anticipatory bail shall be considered as expression of opinion on the merits of the case. In addition, the appellant will now comply with the conditions under S. 438(2) of CrPC." the Court added further.

The petitioner was represented by Sr Advocate Atmaram NS Nadkarni along with AOR Salvador Santosh Rebello and Advocate Raghav Sharma